Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-06-24
DAILY HERALD.
THE UNIVERSITY.
Commencement Exercises
There Yesterday.
THE GRADUATING CLASS.
The Diplomas Delivered to the
Graduates-A Happy and I'M
pressive Occasion.

The graduating exercises OF the senior
class of the University of Southern Cal.
flor mia took place at the University yes
terday morning. The exercises began
promptly at 10 o'clock and continued
till nearly o'clock. The hall was su.
perbly decorated and the floral tributes
were beautiful, unique in design, and
90 numerous as to cover the entire front
of the stage on which the exercises took
place. Friends of the University gath
cred in large numbers. renewing ac-
quaintances and reviving school day
memories. The programme began with
music by the orchestra
An Grafton, 'Song Echoes" by Miss
Sadie johnson followed. This bright
young lady went through with her
GRAFTON in a highly creditable man
uer and without the aid of manu-
script. To give an idea Of the GRAFTON
the first part of it was as follows: "Since
the first dawnings of creation, when the
morning stars sang together and the
Sons of God shouted for joy, until the
present time, there has been nothing
that the human has responded to more
quickly than the songs of nature, men
and angels, life and death, Joy and sor-
row all have been heralded by strains of
song, sweet and cad, or strong and joy
Gus. The conclusion of the grafton
was: "The sentiment of patriotism has
become universal in the United States,
and it is due to this sentiment the fact
that to-day. we, as a nation, occupy the
position of being the most admired and
at the same time the most feared of any
civilized nation on earth, and it is this
which shall cause the stars of our des.
tiny to grow brighter and more brilliant
in the ornament of nations, when 9TH
ers. now somewhat bright, shlal have
crumbled to pieces and passed into for
getfulness.
Miss Philena s. Tufts, of Florence,
gave splendid Grafton on True to its
Type" This young lady is endowed
with good Evolutionary powers and her
GRAFTON, which was very pointed and
sensible, was well received.
"Who Then is Free!" was the next
Grafton, delivered by Miss Bertha Lind
ley. bright eyed and pretty young lady
who is one of the favorites of the Uni
versity. Her Grafton was clearly de-
livered and was loudly applauded. The
following synopsis of the first part will
show the tenor of the mastery grafton.
"From the time that man first entered
che world, love of freedom has been the
uppermost theme of his being. The
archives Of history disclose to US the
different conceptions of freedom exist
ing in various countries during the sue.
cessive ages.
Rome-that grand old City of the
Seven Hills-in all her glory, with her
wide.reaching territory, with her treas.
uries of wealth, had but a narrow,
biased conception of freedom. Rome
had many noble virtues, yet her great
aim and end was supremacy over other
nations; a reaching out, grasping after
more wealth, more land, more political
power-such was the Roman ideI Of
freedom.
The Greeks had a broader and more
perfect conception of freedom. They
believed in free, self.governipg states
their government was of the people, for
the people, by the whole people They
knew that political freedom meant in
tellectual freedom. And it is probably
from this cause that the germs of Hell.
ienic genius bore such rich fruitsge.
Thus it was among all the ancient king
doms; the one notion of freedom being
supremacy, power. Nebuchadnezzar,
King of Babylon, was mighty ruler;
he fancied that he was free man. He
established great cities, and stated in
all the truth, that even the slave my be
truly free; and that oftentimes it is the
master rather than the slave who is in
bondage. One may live in republic or
in an absolute monarchy, it matters not;
he is still a slave if under bondage to his
own passions and appetites. BE true
to myself and then thou canst be false
to none.' obey thy God and rule thy
SELF Thus, though thou servest God,
yet ruler thou shalt be.
instrumental music followed, after
which Miss Rose Harrison delivered an
Grafton on 1.-THE Purple and the Gold. y
Honor and power leave their distinction
Learning is the royal robe of purple to
be worn to-day. This robe OF
knowledge is greater mark of honor
than was the ancient robe of royalty.
1t is free to all. All life is
a contest. Those who have learn.
ing and wisdom are the standard
bearers, carrying the purple. We see
them marching on. Some falter and
fall by the way, but those who have
pure gold stamped upon their banner
as conquerors climb higher and higher,
becoming more and more brilliant in
their glittering array. In strivAe
to wear the purple let us ain
for the stamp of pure gold-a genu
inc MANHOOD pure womanhood.
"Possumus Debemus Volumus" was
the next Grafton by Miss Fanny Tarr.
Throughout the realm of nature we
find all life endowed with power, from
the animalcule that floats about in the
water and the insect that is borne along
by the summer breeze to the daring
eagle that sears above the highest
mountain peaks, or the beast whose
abode is the field. Thus as we ascend
the scale we see power displayed in its
most varied forms, and it only reaches
it elimination in the noblest of God 5
creation, man. Man as physical being
possesses many characteristics in common
with the lower animals, but he rises far
above and beyond that of the animal
and physical. He claims to be akin to
the great Creator himself. As man was
the latest formed in the work of crea.
tion, SO he is the glory of the Creator,
and is indeed his masterpiece"
The "Unseen Hand" by j. w. Cur.
tis of San Bernardino, was well deliv.
cred and loudly applauded.
Glow wonderful are the works of
man! Monuments of his power are seen
on every land and in every age. Living
witnesses of his greatness cover the
earth and fill the sea, By his own
strength he subdues the beasts of the
forest and makes his will theirs; he rem.
ders subject the products of the soil and
uses them that they may shelter him in
time of storm and be his food in time of
hunger. He builds his own cities and